I have a 69 Roadster with the base 350. Had the engine rebuilt and today I installed the harmonic balancer. I bought a bolt and washer from Oreilly. Lined it up with the notch and pushed it in and hit it with my plastic hammer but it would only go in about 1/2 inch. I pulled it off and then cleanep up the surfaces a bit and then I used my hand sledge to pound it far enough for the bolt and washer to catch some threads and then I used my impact gun to drive it in as far as it would go. The front of the balancer protrudes about 1/4 inch in front of the leading edge of the timing marker. Now, when I fit the water pump pulley, the grooves are too far forward of the crank pulley grooves.

I have read about the differences in short and long pumps. The pump I have is an Oreilly "Murray Temp Control" model CP898 and I looked it up and is the correct one. The back of the pump is up against the timing cover which I have read is another indicator that I have the correct pump.

I am using the original balancer and water pump pulley. Did I hit the Harmonic Balancer too far in? HELP!

 

You can’t push it on too far, it has a shoulder it bottoms against on the crank.
It is not a good idea to use the bolt and washer to pull it on, though. You stand a good chance of screwing up the threads on the crank, and then you have a real problem on your hands. You should use a proper tool that has a stud you thread into the crank first and then a nut pulls the balancer on.
I’m not an expert in pulleys and pumps though so maybe someone can help you out there. Good luck.

 

 

The balancer bottoms out against the crank timing chain sprocket.

That timing TAB does not look right. Why is the "A" on the top side? "A" means after, ATDC.
Is that a "B" on the bottom of the tab? BTDC. Hard to see.

The overall design of that waterpump tells me its the wrong one. Just doesn't look correct either. Hence the misalignment of the pulley.
Because SBC have basically three waterpump designs, its a very good chance that a wrong one was ordered.
Long W.P.
Short W.P.
Corvette W.P.

 

by pounding it on with a sledge, you may have destroyed the thrust bearing.

 

The balancer bottoms against the oil slinger , if the slinger is missing there could be a problem.
.a hammer is not a good installation tool for the harmonic balancer.

 

He has the A/R tab which is A (advance) and R (retard) vs Before/After.

 

You were very lucky that you didn't mess up the crank threads. Are you sure that your water pump shaft is 5/8" and the hole in the pulley is 5/8"? Looks like the pulley isn't in far enough. Did the pulley line up correctly with the old water pump?

 

I don't believe the 350s had an oil slinger.
Early 327s maybe.

 

WAG
look inside timing cover:
perhaps timing set's crank gear is wrong or damaged.

also, perhaps pump's hub is dislocated? Standard Short pump's height from block face to front of hub should be about 5.625". Many pumps' hub can be moved by user.

also, perhaps damper is wrong?

Also, perhaps timing cover (t tab) is wrong? They've been known to get accidentally swapped at machine shops.

 

Sorry - Couldn't help myself!
Training Day - Great Movie!